People Smarter Than I Am Explain Trump’s Tariffs

And Heather Cox Richardson is my primary news source now

Trump imposed tariffs on two deserted islands populated only by penguins along with almost everywhere else. Guess one country where he didn’t impose tariffs on? Russia! Photo of protest sign at the Hand’s Off protests April 6 by author.

I have a hard time trusting the New York Times to keep me apprised of what’s happening in my country when they seem just as interested in souffle recipes and modern love stories as in the downfall of democracy and the dismantling of the American government.

So now I read newsletters written by people smarter than I am, who scour the news for stories from credible sources and then tell me what it all means. Letters From an American on Substack (and also on Facebook) by Heather Cox Richardson is one of those newsletters.

Here’s what she wrote about tariffs on April 3.

It’s a shakedown.

[Editor of The American Prospect David] Dayen writes that Trump’s tariffs are essentially sanctions on the rest of the world. His behavior is, Dayen says, “no different from a mob boss moving into town and sending his thugs to every business on Main Street, roughing up the proprietors and asking for protection money so they don’t get pushed out of business.” Dayen notes that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued last year for using the extraordinary power of the U.S. economy to force other countries to do as the U.S. wants, creating a U.S. sphere of influence through economic pressure…